The front cover for my book is meant to be eye catching so I have used a variety of pastel bright colours as the background of the front cover. I chose pastels because they are a little less hard on the eyes and gives the book a soft feel to it which is important as the book is about a touchy subject matter. The main characters of the book are included on the front cover as they are meant to be characters that the children this book is aimed at will like or relate to. The Rat is bigger than the dog as he is meant to act as an older brother figure to the dog throughout the book. This is evidenced when he helps the dog, who is lost and scared when they first meet, find his owner.
The first page of the book shows the rat beginning his journey at the crossroads. the crossroads represent the different paths a person can take throughout their lives. It also shows that every journey starts with a choice. The whole tone with colours is pastel to create a soft look. This is done to sort of soften the blow of the usbject matter as it can upset some people who can relate to the story. I decided to keep the page with text clear with a white background as children aged 5-10 will find it easier to read of a white background than a multicoloured background.
I then created the fourth page of the story which shows the Rat become tired on his journey after meeting two families who rejected him. This is meant to be relate able to times when children in care have been sent to live with foster families and its not worked out. On this page the rat doesn’t have a bag pack as he is resting. The background is meant to be a park or wildlife reserve of some kind. Somewhere the rat can stop and have a rest without being bothered. Again the text page is blank so it’s easier for children to read off of.
The fifth page of my book introduces a new character, Dog. Dog is lost and scared when Rat comes across him, when Rat offers to help Dog he becomes a sort of big brother figure in the eyes of the reader. This is represent the friendships that children in care often make as they don’t have any strong parental figures in the care system they start to care for each other like siblings and look out for one an other. One thing I am unhappy about with this page is that the dogs white patch for some reason in copying over has disappeared or is more see through than expected as I used a low opacity brush for the characters. I also hate my drawings in general but the story in this book is well done for the subject matter.
The sixth page of the book shows Dog and Rat on their journey when Dog spots something that makes him excited and runs off to investigate. This shows that sometimes a child in care will find someone looking to adopt and get attached to them. On the following page Dog and his owner are reunited and Rat gets sad because he thinks he has to leave, then Dog and his owner ask Rat to come live with them. This represents when children in care finally find a forever family as it is usually unexpected when it happens. The background in this I am disappointed with, I tried to keep it bright as children like bright colours but I think it looks really messy and childish. If I had more time and more drawing skills I would change the background on this page.
I am actually quite proud of the back cover of this book. I like the rainbow pastel colours used on the background and I like the synopsis. The font I love because it is like a mix between handwriting and simple fonts like Helvetica. This makes it easy to read with a childish/ child friend edge to it. The quotes from reviews I have put on there as most books have reviews on the back of them. The bar code is there as all books have a bar code, I got the bar code from Google images as I am not publishing this book I do not see that being a problem. The price is also similar to prices of other short childrens books.
